Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
By Adolfo Lara, PhD
Edited by John Fierst
We may feel our classrooms or office days are simultaneously a distant past memory and a distant future possibility due to COVID-19. We seem to be right in the middle of it all.
However just as we may have not pictured ourselves having to work from home (in what felt like) overnight, one day we will be back to our routine just as quickly as we were forced out of it.
With this in mind I want to look out for the future you, now. With a little investment of time (which we seem to have more of now) I will try to save you time and most importantly headaches in the future.
How can we do this? Easy, with organization.
Organization is key. Organization saves you time.
Organization means you can quickly find any information you are looking for and not get frustrated when you are staring at a pile of virtual or print out papers.
I recall one time in undergrad where I made THE best study guide for my first biochemistry test. Even got the 10 points question correct in the test (#humblebrag). But due to my lack of organization, I could not find the study guide anywhere come the cumulative final exam and I had to remake the amino acid flashcards, losing precious study time.
Since that day and over time I have tried to become more organized and I have found a few useful techniques.
While I am a fan of writing out my notes with pencil and paper the following suggestions are a mix and can help both traditional and virtual organization.
With this in mind, these 5 tips will make your organization a bit easier.
1) Organization template
To organize ideas, I use a subset template.
A subset template consists of any number of nested circles. All you need to do is place the first step to action at the core of the diagram. From there you place the second step in the next circle and so on depending how many steps your goal has.
Refer to Figure 1, to visualize the implementation of the subset diagram.
How does this organization method help me?
Subset templates play a two-part role:
1) you’ll see the core or impeding hurdle at the center circle of the diagram. This is what you’ll need to knock out first.
2) you’ll see the entire process in one quick view.
Figure 1. Subset organizational template. A) Blank Template. B) Theory behind template displaying suggested content of each subset circle. C) Example of subset organizer at work, where the main goal is to publish and the first step to do is to brainstorm, followed by writing, finally edits. (Figure by Adolfo Lara, PhD).
2) Colored Fonts
Colored fonts help me place notes into context either time-wise (ex: I drew that in Purple so that was on Tuesday) or organization-wise (ex: it was in the first few pages of my notebook).
Due to this I like color coding notes in this organization manner:
Sunday: Blue
Monday: Grey
Tuesday: Purple
Wednesday: Orange
Thursday: Green
Friday: Black
Saturday: Pink
How does this organization method help me?
Give this method a try and see if associating a color with a day (and eventually information) helps you as well!
Photo by Adolfo Lara, PhD.
3) Digitize Everything
If you are like me and prefer a pencil and paper approach some of your documentation may not be digitized. Take advantage of the evolution of technology with cloud-based storages and digitize documents with your phone, tablet, or a scanner. Now, in case you may have misplaced a print-out version of a document you may have its electronic version readily available and vice-versa.
How does this organization method help me?
You will have your notes handy in both a physical and virtual manner. Give the documents a unique title and you’ll be able to quickly search for it.
BONUS: Digitizing your notes gives you the added bonus of potentially making them text searchable.
Photo by Alexandre Debiève on Unsplash
4) Folder Organizer
With typed or scanned notes in your computer, having them in specific folders is an easy organizational method. You can simply name your folder by category, but this may cause your computer to organize the files by numero-alphabetical order.
Personally, I like arranging my files in numerical order by adding 3 digits in front of a folder name and then the folder’s name. In this manner, the computer (Windows or Mac) automatically organizes the folders by numbers keeping the order I want.
Example: 001Brainstorm, 002Writing, 003Edits, 004Publish.
How does this organization method help me?
This method allows you to organize your folders in the exact order you want.
Photo by Davi Mendes on Unsplash
5)PDF Websites
One frustrating problem I ran into was going back to a useful website only to find their 404 page. The website was taken down and along with it all the helpful information they provided.
From then onwards, instead of bookmarking a useful website, I select the print option but only save the website as a PDF.
How does this organization method help me?
Now independently of a website’s fate, you’ll have access to their content as long as you keep those PDFs organized.
BONUS: By having a PDF version of the website content, you can access these documents offline!
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
